Definitely one of the most original releases of 1996 is Crisis' "Deathshead Extermination" from Metal Blade Records. The main thing to take notice of here are the vocals as they are very unique. The vocal duties are taken on by Karyn Crisis and these are the most brutal vocals I have ever heard done by a female. She screams, growls, yells, shrieks, and also does the gentle or pretty singing here and there, and it all sounds pretty damn cool. Karyn usually uses all her styles of vocal delivery in all the songs, varying the approach with each line and not sticking to one particular style. You could almost say this vocal style is a gimmick but I won't do that, probably because the music is also quite good, but these vocals do set this band apart from everything else. Karyn Crisis is also responsible for all the lyrics and the art work and it looks like some rather twisted stuff from briefly checking it out. The music of Crisis could best be described as an up to date form of thrash that tries to get moody in parts, mostly created by slower or stripped down drum beats. There are lots of great riffs and the music is heavy and original. The songs range from being your regular 4 minute shots of metal to more drawn out or experimental type stuff. As I said the music is definitely good enough to stand on it's own but everyone should check out this release for only the vocals if anything.
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